The Powers of Persuasion
by Sailor Tralfamadore
Summary: A companion piece to Second Chances. Sciezka finds herself falling for her closest friend, a feeling she knows has been coming on for years. It's just up to her now to talk Winry into it. It's a good thing that her years in the Central Command Investigations Department gave Sciezka some good persuasion skills. Eventual SciezkaWin. FEMSLASH!
1. Chapter 1

It sucked to be Sciezka.

Her best friend, the most beautiful girl she knew, Winry Rockbell, was madly in love with Edward Elric, and there was nothing Sciezka could do about it.

At one point, it seemed like she could. First, there was when Ed disappeared, and everyone presumed he was dead. Sciezka felt like she was finally at the point where she might convince Winry that they had something. But then Ed reappeared, Winry's feelings for him flared up again, and then just as quickly, he grabbed his brother and the two of them dropped beyond the Gate again - seemingly for the last time.

Sciezka liked the Elric brothers and had become particularly close to Al in the years since Ed's first disappearance. So she certainly wasn't happy to see them go away. And nothing had devastated Winry like Ed's second, apparently permanent disappearance. She'd cried for days. And Winry had tried to pretend at first that it was because she saw the brothers as childhood friends, but everyone could tell the tears were mainly for Edward, and borne out of something quite different from mere sisterly affection.

And she finally confessed her feelings about Ed after Sciezka had prodded her, in her way, for days about it.

Which caused Sciezka's heart to sink.

She'd been teased before about dating the various boys who dropped in at the Central Library, where Sciezka primarily worked, or the Investigations Department, where Sciezka's then-superior, Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, had his office. Heck, Hughes had been a big part of the teasing. He was madly in love and content and seemed to want to get everyone around him set up as happily as he was, from calling Colonel Mustang urging him to "get himself a wife!" to making date suggestions for the younger single people in his department. Even Sciezka, despite her being only a teenager when she was first appointed to her position - only a few years older than Ed himself.

In fact, Hughes had once actually tried to set Ed up with her, making them reservations at a nice restaurant downtown and not telling each other who would be there with them. It was the most awkward evening of Sciezka's life. Though they were normally such close friends and could chatter endlessly about the alchemy textbooks that Sciezka was called to record for Ed after the library had burned down, thrust into that situation... both of them had stared at their napkins and tried not to look at each other. Glances like that would acknowledge the reality, and neither of them were okay with that.

It was clear that Ed was just as disinterested as Sciezka was. After the whole fiasco was over, with both making that aspect clear to Lt. Col. Hughes, Ed and Sciezka had drifted back to their easier friendly banter. And he confessed that despite the constant assumptions that he must be that way, because what red-blooded 15-year-old boy wouldn't be, Ed hadn't ever felt much for girls. In fact, the only time he'd ever felt the fluttering in his stomach and heat in his face that Sciezka had told him she'd read about in a book once, was when he was fighting with Colonel Mustang...

Though she was puzzled by Ed's choice in a guy, she had chuckled, because she knew exactly what he meant. Sciezka was supposed to like boys, but it was only when she was in the presence of women like Second Lieutenant Ross or Lieutenant Hawkeye that she ever got the drop in her gut that she was supposed to feel for the opposite sex.

But none of them had ever set her soul on fire quite like Winry Rockbell.

* * *

It wasn't just that Winry was gorgeous. With her long blonde hair in her half-ponytail, bright smile, sky-blue eyes and milky skin, of course she was. But it was more than that. She was fiercely intelligent - one of the smartest people Sciezka had met, and that was saying something because, working in the Central Library and Investigations Department, she'd met a lot of smart people. She was kind: always ready to lend a hand to her friends, always willing to stand up for what she thought was right. And she was passionate: about her drive to become the world's greatest automail mechanic, about protecting the people she loved. About Ed.

Ah, that thought again. Sciezka didn't want to think about that.

She wondered how much it had to be Winry because Winry was the first girl who ever let Sciezka get close to her. Growing up in a small town in the northern part of Amestris, everyone had considered bookish Sciezka an antisocial freak. It was only when she got to Central, and got her job in the library, that she found her place. But even then, most people just regarded her as this strange book-lover who was easy to miss. Even Ed, who spent hours poring over books himself, seemed to regard Sciezka as a tad odd; he never told her, since they were friends, but Sciezka could see it. Al, of course, being Friend to All Living Things, didn't judge her at all. But Al was a suit of armor - and male.

Winry was the first girl who let Sciezka in, who didn't judge her, who treated her as a dear friend who was perfect just the way she was.

Ever since they'd worked together on the Juliet Douglas investigation, the two of them had only gotten closer. They'd shared so much, whether cooking and baking in Winry's house at Risembool or roaming the streets of Central when Winry came to visit Sciezka in her city apartment. She was definitely her best friend, and Sciezka felt like the younger Rockbell knew her better than any other person she'd ever met.

Which was part of why she was hesitant to ever make her feelings known, as she found herself becoming more and more attracted to her - unable to look away from Winry's long, thick flaxen hair or piercing blue eyes, silently shivering every time Winry's arm brushed her own. She didn't want to ruin her friendship. And she was sure that Winry wasn't attracted to girls, anyway, with the way she kept going on about Ed, and especially after Sciezka finally got it out of her.

At least, until a certain fateful confession, and a few too many drinks, proved her otherwise.

* * *

It was one of those days in the weeks, no, months after the Elric brothers had left permanently for the other world, planning to close the Gate. When Winry had been crying her eyes out that she'd never see Ed again. It wasn't long after she'd confessed her feelings about the Fullmetal Alchemist to her best friend.

Sciezka should have known that with that confession, would come other confessions. Liquor, especially the strong highballs they made in the bars of downtown Central City, had that kind of effect on Winry Rockbell.

It was over three martinis one night in the Green Dragon - one of the bars near Central Command with a heavily military clientele - that she started talking about her time spent studying in Rush Valley, and a certain fellow automail mechanic named Paninya.

"We really clicked," Winry had said, "and I don't know, I just happened to notice she was really pretty, and didn't look like anyone I'd met before I got there. Beautiful bronze skin, brown curly hair always tied back, lean, athletic build... she was really smart, she was quick-witted...I don't know what happened...I never thought I'd be into girls..."

With that, Sciezka's ears perked up. Was she really hearing what she thought? Were her wildest dreams, the ones she barely dared to hope, about her best friend coming true?

_It doesn't mean she'd be into_ you, _Sciezka,_ the voice in her head that she hated reminded her.

"Before I knew it, we were in the back of the shop, and her lips were on mine. And I don't know, I _liked_ it. Like when I've kissed boys. It didn't feel any different, any less exciting. So I kept doing it. Before I knew it, we were reaching under each other's shirts..."

Sciezka's eyes were getting wider. She couldn't believe this. This wasn't really happening.

Winry wasn't into girls. This was too good to be true.

But she kept recounting the tale. "She was licking and licking me, all over, and it felt like all of my insides were going to burst with pleasure. I was so happy. And she kept going further down, and..."

Sciezka couldn't listen to this at this point. "Winry." She put a hand to her lips. "We're in public."

"Oh right," Winry said, blushing. "Anyways, I really enjoyed it. And I think...I think I might be bisexual."

Sciezka blinked again, still stunned. "You liked it that much?"

"Yeah," Winry said. "I mean, I really like Ed, you know that. I don't think I'll like anyone more than him, ever. But I'm never going to see him again. So maybe I could try dating girls for a while, what do you think, Sciezka?"

_I still can't believe I'm hearing this,_ Sciezka thought to herself. _This is too weird. I have to be dreaming. This is too weird._

"Sciezka?" Winry asked again, clearly wanting an answer.

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure," Sciezka stammered, hoping that Winry would just blame the four beers she'd pounded back on the librarian's confusion.

* * *

At that point, Sciezka had decided that, the next time her friend came to Central, she would finally tell Winry how she felt.

She had nothing to lose. _Winry liked girls. There's a possibility she might like me._

Her insecurity usually caused her to dismiss those thoughts; it wasn't just that most women were straight, but that she didn't seem like the type who turned heads. Ever. Most people ignored her. Sciezka was pretty sure she was, at best, what people would consider "plain."

But Winry didn't ignore her and _Winry was into girls_ and Sciezka felt like it was too fantastic of a possibility to pass up...

Sciezka was all set to tell her when Winry had phoned asking if she could come stay with her on an upcoming trip to Central she had to make in a couple of weeks.

"Of course, you're always welcome here," Sciezka had said. And then she made the error she later knew she'd forever regret.

"So what's the reason for your visit?" Sciezka had asked.

"Paying a call to a military client there. I made her arm, but I have to go there to attach it," Winry'd said.

"Is that all?" Sciezka had asked. The bigger mistake.

There was a pause.

"No," Winry had finally admitted, sheepishly. "I have to talk to Colonel Mustang about something."

"Colonel Mustang?" Sciezka had asked. What could Winry want with the Colonel?

"Yes," Winry had answered. "Don't tell anyone I told you this, but... he told me there's a way we might be able to see Ed again, that it's not all over. I have to take that chance, you know? No matter how farfetched it is."

And Sciezka's heart sunk into her stomach.

At some point, she was going to have to tell Winry the truth about Ed, wasn't she?


	2. Chapter 2

It turned out that even with all she'd learned from working under Brigadier General Hughes in the Intelligence department of Central Command, Sciezka wasn't really all that good at persuading people. At least, persuading people named Winry Rockbell.

But then, nobody acted like themselves around the person they loved, did they?

Dear God, though, did Winry ever make it as difficult as she could. Every time Sciezka tried to bring up the subject of Ed's true sexuality - and thus, why Winry shouldn't go throwing away her life on whatever half-assed chance Mustang had for her to see Ed again - Winry always found some way to turn it around to something else, usually just gushing about how much she loved Ed and how she couldn't wait to see him again if Roy was right.

"So...Ed," Sciezka began once, in desperation on about the 13th time she'd tried to broach this topic.

"Yeah," Winry smiled, her cheeks rosy at the thought of her long-time beloved. "I really hope Roy is right that there's a chance to see him again. I can't wait to, I've missed him so much. Even though he was always away on missions anyway, Risembool just isn't the same without him - without even the promise that Ed and Al could come back to us, you know?"

"About that. Winry, I have something to..." Sciezka began, but it fell on deaf ears.

"I wonder how his automail is doing, if he needs any repairs done. If he's damaged it in any way in that other world. He said they don't have automail over there, they have some really crappy prosthetics that you can't even move on your own that much and have to take off when you go to sleep! Can you imagine? See, he's still relying on me from another world. He needs me."

Sciezka sighed. This was hopeless. Winry was hopeless. _She_ was hopeless.

At the very least, couldn't Winry see how much Sciezka was in love with her? She'd been able to tell that Roy Mustang shared her feelings for Ed; Winry had told her best friend all about it. Couldn't she read it on other people, when they loved someone _else_? Couldn't Winry see it all over her best friend's face every time she was around her, if she could see it in the face of the man she used to loathe when his love was on another world?

Couldn't she at least see how all this Ed talk hurt Sciezka?

Somehow, Winry was oblivious. Either that, or it was just that much of a lost cause and this was Winry's way of telling her friend, while trying to spare her feelings. Sciezka had read it in a book somewhere; even the Central Library had had a section of romantic and other interpersonal advice. You can't directly tell them, so you show them - by making it clear you have feelings for someone else.

Even if Winry was into girls, too, she clearly wasn't going to ever be into Sciezka. _God, I need to get a grip._

* * *

Regardless, that didn't make her plan to run after Ed a good idea, and Sciezka knew that if she was going to be a good friend to Winry, she would have to talk her out of it. If Winry was hoping to make Ed her boyfriend or husband and have a bunch of babies with him, she needed to know it wasn't going to happen. That Ed could be nothing more than a friend. At least, in this universe and that other universe. Maybe a third universe held an Ed who would return Winry's feelings.

But it wouldn't be Winry's Ed, wouldn't be the one she'd been pining after for years, wouldn't be the one she wanted to chase down on some other world. If that was what Roy had in mind; Sciezka could only guess, but the alternative, that he was somehow going to contact Ed over there and lure him back to their world, seemed even more unlikely.

Sciezka needed to get it through Winry's skull that she couldn't do this. She had to find a way to break through the occasional Ed gushing and the constant automail shop-talk to reveal the truth to her: that Ed was gay, and that while he loved Winry dearly as a sister, Roy Mustang had a better chance with him purely by virtue of being a man, and should probably go after Ed alone.

Roy Mustang.

With his name, it was like Sciezka's brain lit up with possibility. _Of course_. Sciezka wasn't very good at applying her skills of persuasion outside of the written word, but Roy Mustang could talk to Winry for her. That was how he'd flown back up the ranks, after all, back to his previous position as Colonel when he should have been doomed to be an enlisted man for the rest of his days. That was how he'd made it to that position of power in the first place. Roy could skillfully command a room, work weaselly military brass to do his bidding, charm the pants off of every eligible straight lady in Central City...hell, in all of _Amestris_... Certainly, if there was anyone Sciezka knew who was skilled at the powers of persuasion, who could get through to someone no matter what barriers she put up, it was Roy Mustang.

Sciezka would have to talk to him. And then maybe Roy could talk some sense into Winry. It was his plan all along, anyway, and they were due to meet about it while Winry was here to help the Captain with her automail.

Sciezka tried to think of where Roy would go at night, so she could have a chance to chat with him without Winry tailing her. Somewhere very military, like a bar where the brass liked to hang out. Obviously, there was one clear answer: The Green Lion, situated just a few blocks from Central Command. It had an almost exclusively military clientele. Sciezka wouldn't look suspect there, but Winry would.

She smiled. This would work. One night, she muttered to Winry something about "state business" and headed out.

* * *

And yet, as Sciezka walked toward the bar, it all began to fall apart.

She could feel herself boiling over with anger toward Roy Mustang, the more she thought about all of this. How dare he try to rip Winry away from everything, from every_one_ who cared about her here, and from her budding career in automail? How dare he let his own selfish desires influence her? If Roy wanted to throw away his own life for Ed, then so be it; Sciezka didn't know him well enough to care what he did to himself, and what she'd heard at work was that with his years of demotion, he'd lost any chance at taking over the country like he'd once wanted to do. He didn't have prospects. But Winry did.

How dare he try to drag her into this, and take her from that?

_How dare he try to take her from me?_

Sciezka knew that blowing up at Mustang wasn't going to do her any favors, but she couldn't help it as she reached the bar, and demanded that Roy buy her a drink. Luckily, Mustang was his usual smarmy self, trying his best to charm her - _it doesn't work on me_, she wanted to say - and somehow that just made Sciezka angrier.

When she finally put it as blunt as possible why he had to stop entangling Winry - "Ed doesn't love her" - Mustang didn't believe her at first.

Of course he wouldn't. Not many people had been able to learn Ed's dating preferences when he was here, and still so wholly focused on chasing after the Stone.

So, of course, the evidence came out. "Hughes tried to set us up on a date once when he was alive."

And then Roy laughed, and Sciezka felt her rage burning again.

"It's not funny! It was the most awkward experience of my life. We were both completely uninterested." It was getting on her nerves, how much she had to explain this, and she was waving her hands back and forth in sheer frustration.

But at least Mustang finally seemed to pick up on this. Though he still didn't completely believe her, it seemed. "No offense, Miss Sciezka... but just because Ed isn't interested in you doesn't mean he wouldn't be interested in Miss Rockbell. Men have different tastes."

She sighed. _Really? You think that didn't occur to me?_ He knew how much time she spent in the library. He had to reckon she'd learned some romantic advice in there, too, especially with all the alchemists who coded their notes in that sappy kind of stuff. No need to get a lecture on Romance 101 from him.

"I know that, you moron. We talked about it afterward. That's why I know this. Ed told me why he wasn't into me. It's the same reason I'm not into him."

Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was the way Roy's face looked once she'd introduced the possibility. He raised his eyebrows, trying to look confused, but Sciezka could detect a glimmer of hope behind them - something he was trying to hide, but couldn't help.

So she just said it. "I'm gay. And so is Ed."

She was surprised that Roy Mustang didn't fall over in his chair. He spent a long time just blinking with his one visible eye, before he finally spoke.

* * *

"Are you serious, Sciezka? How did you find out?"

"I told you, we went on a date. We talked about how awkward it was at the end, and we both told each other why. He likes guys, Mustang. He doesn't like girls, not that way, at least."

By this time, the alcohol had begun to take effect, and that plus the way Mustang was reacting to this latest revelation calmed Sciezka down somewhat. He didn't _want_ Ed to love Winry, not really, which just made it all the more puzzling to Sciezka that he'd offered to her to go along in the first place. Was it disbelief that Ed could be into him? Some weird sort of obligation?

(The second possibility made Sciezka wonder: _Does this have something to do with what he did to her parents?_)

"You're telling the truth. You're not toying with me."

In her speculation, Sciezka had forgotten that Mustang was there, still stunned.

She laughed. "Why would I toy with you over this? I barely know you. Although yes, I did know you were attracted to Ed. Winry told me."

Roy sighed. "Ah, yes," he said. "She would tell you. Though I suppose the whole of Central Command knows by now. There's no need to keep these kinds of secrets when the person you love is on another world."

"So you _love_ him, then?" Sciezka said, eyes widening. She'd known Roy had the hots for Ed, but that he was truly in love with him?

Although, she should have figured. You don't chase someone across universes if you just want to get in their pants. Especially if you're the former Rake of East City himself - though Sciezka had heard that Roy's prospects had gone down somewhat since he'd acquired that eyepatch.

"Yes," Roy said, rather more firmly than Sciezka would've expected. Then he paused, as though he was considering something. "Rather like you love _her_, don't you?"

Now it was Sciezka's turn to blink. And sputter into her cocktail. How could he...? "What?" she asked, incredulous.

Mustang laughed. "I wouldn't have made it as far as I am...or, was... if I wasn't good at reading people. Would you have come in here so furious at me if you didn't feel that way for her?"

Sciezka glared at him. "She's my friend! I didn't want her throwing her life away to chase a man who doesn't love her!"

He shrugged, defeated. "I suppose that's true. But am I wrong?" Roy raised his one visible eyebrow in inquiry.

Maybe it was the liquor, maybe it was that Sciezka realized she didn't have much to lose from telling this man the truth. He'd, more or less, had his own heart laid bare before her, with both what she'd learned from Winry and what he was telling her now. May as well deal out some equivalent exchange, as Mustang was an alchemist and all.

"No, you're not wrong," she finally said, staring into her drink.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up to see Mustang patting it while smiling encouragingly at her. "It's okay," he said. "I've suspected it since that day in Risembool when we chased down Ed, and I saw you with her. Although women are much more affectionate in your friendships than men are, so I wasn't sure." He took a sip of his drink. "So how does she feel about it?"

"She doesn't know," Sciezka said. "I'm not sure how to tell her." Then Sciezka realized that there was another meaning in what Roy had asked. "She does go both ways, though, if that's what you're wondering."

Roy sighed. "Another eerie similarity between Miss Rockbell and me, I suppose." He laughed, disbelievingly, staring at the table.

"Either way," Sciezka began, "I don't want her chasing down Ed. Surely you agree now, with what I've told you? I mean, you were doing this out of some weird sense of obligation to her, right?"

Roy sighed. "And to him. I didn't think it likely that Ed would prefer me over her. But with what you've said...yes. I'll dissuade her from going, if that's what you're asking."

"It is," Sciezka said, finally managing a smile at the older man. "Thank you."

"And maybe I can help you with your other problem. You know I have a way with women." He smirked.

She laughed. Wow, the alcohol was _definitely_ hitting her now. "Not with her. But yes, I'll take your help if you want it. I don't know how to repay you, though."

Roy waved her off. "You already have, far more than you owed me. Not just with this, but with all you did in investigating the death of my best friend, and all the information you gave me to assist me in defeating that...homunculus." Even here, it wasn't good for Roy to admit to the full truth of what transpired that night in the Führer's mansion. "I was only able to change this country because of you and your hard work. There's nothing more you could do for me than what you have."

Sciezka smiled and took another sip of her drink, and then she realized.

Actually, there _was_ one more thing.

"Oh, there was something else I forgot to tell you," she said, rushing to get this out before she thought better of it. "Obviously, I don't know what this means about his feelings now...but when Ed and I went on that date, he happened to mention he had a crush on you."

When Sciezka looked up, Roy's jaw had dropped.

"Okay, now you _are_ toying with me."

* * *

Roy had offered to walk Sciezka home, and even though it was only a few blocks, she'd accepted. She was so dizzy with drunkenness, and giddiness at what she'd accomplished, that she didn't trust herself to make it home safely.

She wouldn't have to worry about Winry leaving now, would she? Now, all Sciezka had to do was somehow convince Winry that she should take a chance with her. With Sciezka.

And in that, she'd just gained an unlikely ally in Colonel Mustang.

It was funny when they reached the door. Roy had insisted on walking her to it. Anyone who didn't know the two of them better would think they were on a date, with how chivalrous he was acting. Was this how Roy was with all women?

"You know, in another world, those two would be perfect for each other," he said to Sciezka as they jumped up the steps to her apartment building. "It's lucky for us that they aren't in this one."

"Or the other one, where Ed is," Sciezka added, smiling up at him.

Roy laughed. "Yes. Perhaps where I'll be, in not too long." He sighed and glanced up at the stars. "You know, you're really a lovely young woman, Miss Sciezka. It's a shame for all of mankind that you aren't interested in us. But then, Miss Rockbell is worth more than all of us put together. You deserve each other."

She laughed. "You never turn off the charm, do you, Colonel?"

But she couldn't help the blush that spread across her face at the thought of _deserving_ Winry...


End file.
